Towards photochromic and thermochromic biosensing

•We review the state of the art and performances of photochromism and thermochromism phenomena for the development of biosensors.•Functional materials with chromo-switchable properties are discussed.•Light- and heat-mediated systems can be applied for the determination of organic and inorganic compounds in analytical chemistry.

Photochromism and thermochromism are interesting physicochemical phenomena applied in the chemistry, health and biology fields and others. Nonetheless, exploiting these chromo-switchable properties in biosensing remains unexplored, and very few results have been reported in the scientific literature. Along these lines, the rich mature knowledge of these phenomena supports the challenge of facing the development of photo- and thermochromic bioanalytical systems. This work discusses potential approaches to exploit photochromism and thermochromism for biosensing, and it reviews the state-of-the-art of these phenomena in the surrounding areas of biosensing in order to plot a stimulating scenario for innovation.